The ability of business users to access crucial business information has been greatly enhanced by the proliferation of IP-based networking together with advances in object oriented Web-based programming and browser technology. Using these advancements, systems have been developed that permit web-based access to business information systems, thereby allowing any user with a browser and an Internet or intranet connection to view, enter, or modify the required business information.
On a roughly similar timeline, substantial efforts have been directed to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that integrate the capabilities of several historically separate business computing systems into a common system, with a view toward streamlining business processes and increasing efficiencies on a business-wide level. By way of example, the capabilities or modules of an ERP system can include: accounting, order processing, time and billing, inventory management, employee management/payroll, and employee calendaring and collaboration, as well as reporting and analysis capabilities relating to these functions.
In a related movement, substantial efforts have also been directed to integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM.) systems, with a view toward obtaining a better understanding of customers, enhancing service to existing customers, and acquiring new, profitable customers. By way of example, the capabilities or modules of a CRM system can include: sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation, contact list, call center support, and web-based customer support, as well as reporting and analysis capabilities relating to these functions. With differing levels of overlap with ERP/CRM initiatives and with each other, substantial efforts have also been directed toward development of increasingly integrated partner and vendor management systems, web store/e-commerce systems, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, and Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems.
As known in the art, both functional advantages and strategic advantages are gained through a the use of an integrated business system comprising ERP, CRM and other business capabilities, particularly where the integrated business system offers a thin-client, browser-based user interface. Functionally, for example, a remote sales person can enter a sales transaction into their browser-based interface reflecting the successful sale of an item, whereupon the integrated business system can not only update accounts receivable, inventory databases, and other ERP-based systems, but can also automatically update commission schedules, strategic customer information databases, and other CRM-based systems. The integrated business system can also send a trigger, for example, for a vendor to send more inventory to replace sold items, and can send a corresponding message to the company warehouse to expect the incoming shipment. Strategically, integrated reporting capabilities of the above systems allow executives and managers to view current information from virtually any location, the information ranging from lists of the top performing sales people and the most lucrative customers to inventory levels and available warehouse space, so that timely changes or adjustments can be made to optimize performance across the enterprise.
Generally speaking, business software industry analysts expect that efforts toward the integration of the above systems will continue, with the goal of allowing clients to optimize the acquisition, dissemination, and use of business knowledge across enterprise functions. From an ERP perspective, AMR Research predicts that “ERP vendors will soon derive most of their revenues from adding customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and product lifecycle management (PLM) capabilities.” CIO.com, “Executive Summaries: Enterprise Resource Planning,” CXO Media, Inc. (Aug. 22, 2002). From a CRM perspective, Patricia Seybold Group characterizes a so-called “fourth wave” of CRM development as follows: “Fourth-wave solutions also begin to tie together customer self-service via the Web with customer service through the contact center. Customers can now begin an interaction online and then pick up the phone and have some hope that the call center rep will be able to see their Web interaction and help them complete the transaction. In this fourth wave, most CRM buyers are also scrambling to tightly integrate their CRM systems with their ERP and other back-end operational systems . . . . Every ERP supplier is now also a CRM supplier.” Patricia Seybold Group, “An Executive's Guide to CRM.• How to Evaluate CRM Alternatives by Functionality, Architecture, & Analytics” (2002).
However, with respect to individual end users, problems can arise as integrated business systems grow ever more powerful and cross-functional. A first problem relates generally to an “information bottleneck” that can occur directly at the user interface of the system. Even if all of the internal bottlenecks of a business information system have been resolved, with information flowing freely and effortlessly among different system modules and enterprise databases, the increasingly large body of available business information has little utility to end users if they cannot efficiently perceive that business information. A related problem is that of “information overload” that can result from the wide array of information and capabilities offered to end users, especially business executives. In one scenario, executive users may find an integrated business system to be so “intimidating” as to avoid adopting the system altogether. In another scenario, even sophisticated users may avoid adopting or fully using the integrated business system if access to the information is considered to be awkward or unnecessarily time-consuming.
Another problem that arises with the introduction of more powerful, centralized business information systems relates to business nomenclatures. In particular, depending on the particular industry in question, different business functions within an enterprise may have been using different names to refer to the same business item or category. By way of example, sales people might prefer to use the term “quote” while accounting people might prefer to use the term “estimate.” This difference may have historically presented no problem where the ERP/accounting systems were distinct from the CRM/SFA systems. However, the new introduction of an integrated ERP/CRM business system might force an enterprise-wide choice between competing terminology sets, leaving at least some of the users with undesired or unfamiliar terminology in the user interface. Geographic differences may also account for different terminology sets within the same business function, e.g., “accounts receivable” and “accounts payable” may be preferred in one location while “debtors” and “creditors” is preferred in another location.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an integrated business information system that facilitates efficient user perception of real-time business information.
It would be further desirable to provide a user interface to an integrated business information system that allows business executives to perceive overviews of key business performance metrics in a single glance.
It would be still further desirable to provide such a user interface that also permits rapid drill-down access to data underlying the overviews of the key business performance metrics.
It would be still further desirable to provide such a user interface that offers other pathways to efficient dissemination and perception of the key business information.
It would be even further desirable to provide an integrated business information system that integrates functional, geographic, demographic, or other nomenclature differences therein while still retaining the original advantages of business system integration.